The bicycle requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.4 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers, and the freight train requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.6 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers (per ton). That’s darned good gas mileage. As a comparison, a modern hybrid automobile requires approximately 5.0-5.5 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers.

So, Steve is saying, if I’m running the numbers right, that a bicyclist actually only requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.235 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers, while Alan is saying that, no, bicycles actually only get 588 miles per gallon, not 1,000.

Right?

I’m curious — what is the gas mileage equivalent of an electrically-powered freight train, per ton (I assume the above figures are for a diesel train, traveling on flat ground, on average)?

The facts here should be presented in miles, miles per gallon and gallons. Americans don’t understand metric quantities. Also Americans understand miles per gallon not liters per 100 km, which once you are used to using mpg you don’t understand l/km.